Pirates, Yankees Swap McGehee, Qualls

For all the talk of the Yankees seeking a defense-first third baseman to fill in for Alex Rodriguez, they went with right-handed power in McGehee. Perhaps the Yanks liked McGehee's versatility, with Mark Teixeira ailing as well. McGehee, 29, is hitting .230/.297/.377 in 293 plate appearances for the Pirates. They acquired him from the Brewers for Jose Veras in December; McGehee has about $890K remaining on his contract. He's arbitration eligible for 2013, but may be non-tendered. He was made more expendable by the Pirates' acquisition of first baseman Gaby Sanchez from the Marlins earlier today.

Qualls, 33, has a 4.89 ERA, 4.9 K/9, 2.8 BB/9, 1.63 HR/9, and 54% groundball rate for the Phillies and Yankees this year. The Yankees acquired Qualls from the Phils on July 1st after he'd been designated for assignment, and Qualls was a likely roster casualty had he remained with the Yanks.

Yankees fans were saying Burnett was horrible, and he became the Pirates’ best starter this year. i don’t have the same confidence in Qualls, but i don’t think he’ll be as bad as Yankees fans let on. they already have sky-high expectations for all of their players as it is.

Anytime you need to use “#sarcasm” to explain that you’re being sarcastic, it’s just not funny. Wins do trump all stats when you pitch for a franchise that hasn’t finished over .500 in 20 years. You try winning 12 games behind an offense that is statistically one of the worse in baseball.

Here’s the thing: Qualls has put up terrible numbers everywhere he’s pitched–the D’Backs, the Rays, the Yankees. Scouts keeps saying they “love his stuff”–well, if his stuff is so good, how come he can’t seem to get anybody out, anywhere he goes?

Burnett was horrible–in New York. He didn’t have the mental make-up to make it in the big city. Put him in Toronto or Pittsburgh, where there are probably only a handful of beat writers following the team and he flourishes.

Wrong! Normally you’d be correct, but you just obtained the exception. Chad Qualls will lose you a couple games from here on until you release him and those couple games may be the difference between making the playoffs and sitting home again.

Like it. McGehee became expendable with the addition on Sanchez. We still platoon Jones/Sanchez plus we add a veteran to the bullpen to replace Lincoln. All the trades together seem to gel well for Pittsburgh.

Not if you look at this year’s numbers. I agree these guys will be upgrades in the future but the plan should be to win this season. Presley and Snider are each hackers who’ve shown flashes here and there, it’s essentially like they just shifted around some dusty spare parts for slightly shinier spare parts.

Qualls has been awful this year, true. Lincoln has been untouchable out of the pen, but he was a busted SP prospect who became expendable. Qualls has a career ERA of 3.85 which isn’t terrible.

Presley hasn’t been good at all. He has flashes, but he was never more than a marginal prospect. Snider has been a top prospect, he just didn’t get any chances. He has 3 HRs in his last 10 games, and he has only had 36 ABs this season so its hard to compare. His upside is much higher than Presley.

Sanchez and McGehee are about average, but Sanchez is a better fielder. McGehee had a decent rookie year and a good 2nd year. Since then though he can’t hit anything. Sanchez was an all-star 2 years ago and has been hitting well in AAA lately with his average above .300.

Well his glove has been very good the last 2 years at about a +6 UZR. This is such a minor pickup considering what we gave up. Would be hard for it NO to be a
good move for us. He can run into a couple of HRS and not embarrass himself at 1b/3b. Good enough for me.

Chavez? Jones? The Yankees have one of the more experienced and better bench bats in the game when they’re at full strength, but currently the Nix’s, Jones, Ibanez’s and Chavez’s of the world are filling in for injuries.

.250/.344/.463 vs LHP is exactly what we need, it’s a good move for someone who will be a part time player platooning with Chavez who’s hitting .283/.353/.513 against RHP. Together they make a good 3B option until Alex comes back.

What’s the big deal? PIrate fans get way too attached to our players. It’s one crappy player for another. McGehee is in his second straight year of winding up hitting around .225, and Qualls hasn’t gotten anyone out since 2009. So what? It’s not going to impact the W/L record at the end of the season either way.

Qualls was going to be the odd man out in the bullpen anyway once Joba is ready…I’ve always liked McGehee ever since he had that huge year with the Brewers and hopefully he can get some of that power back hitting in this lineup

Unfortunately, Casey just couldn’t figure it out. Seemed like a great clubhouse guy, but he has just been terrible with RISP and has just regressed all season. Hope he does well in NY. Basically, the Pirates traded Jose Veras for Chad Qualls once it was said and done.

It’s funny watching Pirates and Yankees fans debate the worth of these two guys, and essentially who “won” this trade… there doesn’t always have to be a winner. Both teams received something they can use, that the other had no use for.

The one where calling a guy with a 12-3 record and with a 3.52 ERA terrible is silly. No doubt he needed a change of scenery. But if he was washed up and terrible, how do you explain him winning 12 games and being the Ace on a team that is in the playoffs as of today?

All Pirates fans wish Casey McGehee could have worked out here. The Bucs traded an expendable bullpen piece (Jose Veras) for McGehee in hopes he would figure out how to hit again. He’s a great clubhouse guy, a fun player. Unfortunately, he is just terrible in clutch situations and continuously popped out or struck out with RISP. It’s hard to root against Casey, I hope he figures it out and rips it up for the Yankees. He simply lost his job today. Qualls will be DFA’ed within a few weeks. This was just a case of the Yankees needing to clear a roster spot for McGehee.

The Pirates seem content on bringing in guys who need a change of scenery and Qualls is no different. The NL might be exactly what he needs to be at least average and make this trade a win for the Pirates. Otherwise it’s just a nothing lost by either team trade.

This is a terrible trade for the Pirates. The guy doesn’t need a change of scenery, he needs a new career. He was shipped off to the Yankees because he sucked in Philadelphia and blew countless games earlier this season.

How do you figure that? They traded 3 prospects for Wandy Rodriguez this week, traded a failed starter-turned middle reliever for an outfielder who is basically the same type of guy only a position player, traded a young OF and a comp. pick for Gaby Sanchez, then moved McGehee to clear room for Sanchez. Where do you get sellers out of that? Did you expect them to trade for Greinke?

I’m not too thrilled with the Pirates deadline moves. other than maybe Wandy, not one seems to be much of an upgrade. Snider OR Sanchez has to pull it together and Marte has to do well, The rest of the batters doing no worse and the bull pen will have to…. um.. not suck with one of the best pieces now gone. Personally I think they tried to do too much at the deadline and didn’t get much out of it.. hopefully I’m wrong.

I’m far from being a Yankee fan, but this is a straight win for the Yanks all across the board. Besides the Pineda trade, I think many of the Yankees trades are wins. Qualls might benefit from pitching in the NL but I haven’t trusted him in years.

You realize that you’re arguing over two piles of garbage, right? One hits and one doesn’t, but they’re both garbage. No highway robber wants to steal a corner infielder who’s had an OPS in the .600’s for two years.